


James Broughton and The Alchemite Crest

by thatonebutton



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-11-04 14:59:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17900315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatonebutton/pseuds/thatonebutton
Summary: Enter the world of American Magic with James Broughton, who is excited to go to the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Together with his friend Jack Blotter, there's nothing he can't do!But there's secrets and conspiracy at every turn, and Jack and James are caught in the crossfire of a battle for a mysterious pendant that goes back to the days of the Spice Girls and the Macarena.From an old speakeasy in New York to a secret metropolis underneath Atlanta, James is going to need all the help he can get, and not just with his homework!





	James Broughton and The Alchemite Crest

**World Trade Center Plaza, New York, New York; 1993**  

A distant clock tower rang out 12 chimes as a man walked down the sidewalk, a small cigarette lighter in one hand, and a briefcase in another. His suit was damp and wrinkled, as if he had fallen in the Hudson River then gotten out and dried himself off with a hairdryer. The briefcase, however, was as dry as a stone, albeit a little roughed up on the handle.

You’d never expect anyone to be out and about in the middle of the night, except for in New York City. It’s not called the “City with an 8 O’Clock Bedtime”, after all, but the World Trade Center Plaza was a ghost town as the man approached the spot: The corner of Church and Liberty.

 

A stout man of about forty years was waiting there for him. Mr. Blotter, though anyone who didn’t know it was him likely wouldn’t have recognized him. His beaming smile from the newspapers was now replaced by a somber look of suspicion. His blond hair, usually a handsome Elvis-style pompadour, was tied back into a ponytail.

Virtually no one, not even his wife, had ever seen him in an outfit like this. The flannel pajamas on his legs did not go well with a hastily thrown on white button-down shirt and leopard print loafers, which he’d probably have to replace after this night.

Strange appearance or not, Blotter was known as a maverick, entrepreneur and millionaire inventor in all fifty states. Across the pond, however, he was unknown. Probably not by accident, given Britain’s stance on technology, but that made him the perfect man to give sensitive material to.

 

“Took you long enough", Blotter said, in a hoarse and hushed voice much unlike the southern drawl most Americans heard on the radio. “My wife will figure out I’m not in Westbury at some point, and do you know how hard it is to sneak out a window when you’re my age? I don’t know if people are usually this late in Britain, bu-”

The man held up his hand. He pulled out the lighter.

“No need for that.” Blotter pulled out a ten-inch long laurel stick. “Delectris!”

A small, blue lightning bolt shot out of the stick and struck the light of the lamp post above them, which went out. There was no chance of anyone seeing their little exchange.

 

“Clever trick, Blotter," the man said, though anyone could tell this Scottish-accented man didn't think that in the slightest.

"I called you here tonight because I need you to destroy something.” The man gave Blotter the briefcase. “You have no idea how hard it was to get this, so make it worth my while. Destroy it immediately.”

Blotter hummed as he thought to himself.

“Why me? If it needed to be destroyed, why travel hundreds of miles and take three days to bring it to me, then get me to do the job? What is it, a Horocrux? Or…”  

Blotter looked at the man in realization and shock.

 

“No. I can’t destroy it. I won't! It’s too valuable. Imagine what BlotterTek could do with this! We could revolutionize our technology! We could experience a renaissance, not unlike the actual Renaissance!” he shouted.

The man glared at him.

“There are things more important than your abuse of loopholes in international law, Blotter! You must destroy it. It cannot fall into the wrong hands!” he said, his hand reaching for a stick of his own. He knew this would happen. He counted on it. Blotter couldn’t resist an opportunity to make people's lives easier.

Blotter crossed his arms, spun around, and disappeared.

 

The man growled.

“He actually took it. I didn’t think he’d actually-"

He muttered a few choice words for Blotter, though they mostly insulted his mother.

“Fine. If he won’t let me have it, I’ll just have to take it.”

 

**200 Miles Under Westbury, Long Island, New York, Four Days Later**

Jennifer Blotter looked on the table.

Jason, her husband, was dead. A freak car accident. A car rolled and crushed him, taking three other Muggle teenagers as well.

 

She should be crying.

Other wives were inconsolable after they lost their husbands. Why was she so cold?

She had loved her husband, well before his discoveries and inventions, well before he became the most famous man in Magi-America, and her the most famous woman.

So why were her eyes dry?

 

He had willed BlotterTek, half of his personal fortune and liquid assets, and all his personal belongings to her.

The only thing not left to her was the Harold Bartholomew Blotter Sr. Potions and Magical Technology Center at Ilvermorny, which the other half of his fortune went to. She could live with half of her husband’s fortune going to education for students. It’s exactly what she would’ve done.

There was one thing she wasn't expecting, though: A gold pendant the size of her fist, with amethyst set into it. He'd had it custom-made. Three days before his death, actually.

She picked up the pendant. The pattern the amethysts were in... A strange symbol. It was unfamiliar to her at first, but her days of studying runes came back to her. A symbol of power, of science, of... Was it…? It couldn't be. Jason wouldn't have been so stupid.

She quickly picked up the letter given to her after receiving the pendant at the reading of the will.

 

“My dearest Jennifer,” the letter said, “I know you still might be in a state of shock. I've written this letter to make sure you are aware of the situation. I made this pendant for you to protect-“ Jennifer put the letter down, her bated breath left unheard with the crackling fire burning in the fireplace.

 

So he was that stupid.

 

She picked up the letter again.

She knew what she had to know. She had her suspicions, but she couldn't pry any further without attracting attention. She crumpled up the piece of paper in her hand and threw it into the fire.

 

As it burned, she put the pendant around her neck. Most wouldn’t do that, but there was no safer place than on her body.


End file.
